Grip Strength Competition May 14!

byJosh HanagarneonFebruary 15, 2011

For any of you that live in the Minneapolis area–actually, scratch that, I’m in Utah and I’m still going out. So–for any of you who are interested in testing your hand strength against some of the best in the country, on May 14 I’ll be competing in a grip strength competition at the Movement Minneapolis.

I’ll be in one of the lower classes. The point is not to win, which is what I tell myself since I’m not strong enough to win. The point is to have something to look forward to with your workouts and training, and hopefully to expose a bunch of people to hand strength who have never specifically trained their hands.

Here are the events for you brave souls:

Two hand pinch

This will be performed on a European pinch doo-dad. You get three tries to lift the weight to a height of 16″ to qualify for a rep.

Closing grippers from a parallel set

There will be all sorts of grippers available. A parallel set means that you are allowed to get the handles closed to parallel before you have to squeeze them closed with one hand.

Adam has a ridiculous amount of grippers so there is going to be something that everyone can close.

Axle deadlift in the double overhand position

This is a deadlift on a thick bar. We’ll be using the 75 lb bar from Submit Strength Equipment. The overhand position means that your palms face you. A completed rep means that you stood all the way up and locked out with the hips. You get three tries.

Vertical bar Lift – 2″ diameter

This is basically a 2″ pole that stick out of a loading pin. You grab it and try to lift it 2″ off the floor. There will be 3 attempts on this lift, and the total score will be the total lifted with the right hand plus the total lifted with the left hand.

The Middle Finger lift

Not as inflammatory as it sounds. We’ll be using a tool from Fat Bastard Barbell called the Double Bastard loading pin. You hook your middle finger through it and try to lift as much weight as possible off the ground.

Deadlift with one hand

How much weight can you lift on a Stronger Grip Plateau Buster? Get it 2″ off the ground and you’ll know. Competitors get three tries and would be wise to use their dominant hand:)

Coin pinch lift

I’ve never tried this and I’m sure it’s even harder than it sounds. Pinch a US quarter that it attacked to some weights. See if you can lift it. The end.

Farmer’s hold

I’ve written about farmer’s walks before. This is the same except you don’t walk. Competitors will hold a Rolling Thunder handle in each hand, loaded with a couple of 120 pound dumbbells. Pick them both up and hold on for as long as you can. whoever can hold on the longest wins this event.

One attempt.

Double underhand steel bending

Bend a piece of steel in the DU grip, with a goal of getting a 40 degree bend in it. There are many degrees of difficulty in the bending stock, so there will be something for everyone, even if you have to bend a piece of hay or a string cheese.

Hanging from a pull up bar

how much do you weigh? Half of that weight will be strapped around your stunning waist with a dip belt, and now you get to hang on to a pullup bar for as long as possible.

I could not be more excited for this. I know a bunch of you readers are in the Minneapolis area. I’d love to meet you. Come have some fun.

For training, don’t worry if you don’t have all these tools. I don’t. Just squeeze, pinch, crush, and dangle from anything you can find.

And if you want to get more specific, pick up a copy of Adam’s DVD Industrial Strength Grip and you’ll be able to make some great progress in the next three months, particularly if you’ve never trained hands before.